March 2, 2005: Headlines: COS - Lesotho: Religion: Ministry: The Orange Bulletin : During Todd Vetter's time in the Peace Corps (1995-98), teaching high school English and mathematics in the village of Lesotho in Southern Africa, he received his calling to become a minister

From East Pakistan to the Town of Orange By: JUDY ODE, Correspondent 03/02/2005 Email to a friend Voice your opinion Printer-friendly

ORANGE - Going from East Pakistan to the Town of Orange is a major trip by physical standards, but for the Rev. Todd Vetter it has also been a significant spiritual journey.

Vetter is the new associate minister at the Orange Congregational Church (OCC). On Sunday, Feb. 27, he was officially ordained in the United Church of Christ and installed as the associate minister of the OCC. In that capacity, Vetter's primary responsibilities will include (but certainly not limited to) advising the Board of Christian Service and Outreach and the Board of Adult Education, teaching the Confirmation class, sharing preaching responsibilities with senior minister Tod King, working in conjunction with youth director Beth Cliff-Rafferty, and ministering to the homebound.

Born in East Pakistan, evacuated in 1970 due to the revolution to become Bangladesh, returning to the United States, moving to Holland at age six, and eventually traveling to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Vetter has had the opportunity to see many areas of the world due to his father's job as a civil engineer. He graduated form Heidelberg College in Ohio with a degree in European history, and then served in the Peace Corps.

Advertisement It was Vetter's time in the Peace Corps (1995-98), teaching high school English and mathematics in the village of Lesotho in Southern Africa, when he received his calling to become a minister. "If it hadn't been for that experience, and the people of the village," said Vetter, "I wouldn't be a minister today. That was where the call came." His time teaching in the Ribaneng River Valley had focused his desire to serve.

While attending Yale Divinity School, Vetter met his future wife, the Rev. Sarah Hare Vetter, who is now pastor of the Diamond Hill United Methodist Church. They live in Cos Cob with their dog. Vetter enjoys playing tennis and lacrosse, studying history, and being involved in social concerns.

"It is exciting to be involved in a ministry with the youth where you can participate in social events, and also work side-by-side on a Habitat house in Bridgeport," said Vetter. "Our youth have made a major commitment to the Youth United Habitat build, and that is very significant to me."

Paramount in social concerns for Vetter is understandably the issues related to Africa.

"Of the 30,000 children who die each day from preventable causes, the majority of those are from Africa," said Vetter. He would like to see the church develop a greater relationship with the developing world.

"It would be great to enhance our long-term relationship with the House of Jacob, and through that develop a deeper relationship with a community in Haiti," said Vetter. He believes having a strong relationship with a faith community in Haiti would help us to explore our fears. "When you have an opportunity to travel to a location, to share in their lives, to develop a better understanding of a people's situation," said Vetter, "you can better appreciate Jesus' teaching that perfect love casts out fear."

Vetter is looking forward to working with the youth this April on their Habitat Mission project. "Seeing what happens when you 'step off the porch,' go out to see the world outside of your own yard," is very exhilarating to Vetter. "These experiences are what grows organizations like Koininia Farms." (The founder of Habitat for Humanity got his inspiration from his time at the community of Koininia.) "People can grow together to build a remarkable new community."

Vetter is impressed with the church's commitment to Heifer Project International. He knows one of Heifer's initiatives involves water resources around the world. He knows that if people in Africa had clean water available, it could prevent the deaths of many of the children who die there each day. H hopes to have the congregation be more involved in this aspect of Heifer.

Vetter likes that the church provides multi-faceted ways to be involved in the community. On Sunday, March 13, Vetter is looking forward to participating in the Orange Congregational Church's celebration of its bicentennial. There will be a special worship service that Sunday to recognize the event, and many will be in period costume, including Vetter.

"The thing about ministry is that you get to use different skills, but fundamentally it is a job that deals in relationships," said Vetter. "The best thing about being a minister is sitting down with people, getting to know what they want to do, what their faith is calling them to do. Ministry is a privilege - to be invited into people's lives at the moments of absolute joy and absolute sorrow, to be there when they marry, when they baptize their children, when they are anxious, when they suffer loss. It is an enormous responsibility, but an extraordinary privilege."

It seems it is also an extraordinary privilege for the people of Orange to be a part of Todd Vetter's journey.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps LibraryPeace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

March 1: National Day of ActionTuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

Make a call for the Peace CorpsPCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot?Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVsRead about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace CorpsThe White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

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Story Source: The Orange Bulletin

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Lesotho; Religion; Ministry

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